Expertise Summary

Dr Jonathan Hale is an architect, Associate Professor & Reader in Architectural Theory. He is Head of the Architecture, Culture and Tectonics research group (ACT) and Convenor for Architectural Humanities II, and Design, Culture & Context modules. Research interests include: architectural theory and criticism; phenomenology and the philosophy of technology; the relationship between architecture and the body; museums and architectural exhibitions. He has published books, chapters, refereed articles and conference papers in these areas and has obtained grants from the EPSRC, the Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, and the Arts Council. He is founder and current steering group member of the international subject network: Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA); a member of the interdisciplinary Science, Technology and Culture research group, hosted by the Dept of French, and the Sense of Space group, a collaboration with the Depts of Philosophy and Sociology; and a Management Board member for the University's Research Priority Area in Creative and Cultural Industries.

Research Summary

Keywords: Architectural theory and criticism; Philosophies of technology, materiality and perception; Phenomenology; The relationship between architecture and the body; Digital media in museums and… read more

Current Research

Keywords: Architectural theory and criticism; Philosophies of technology, materiality and perception; Phenomenology; The relationship between architecture and the body; Digital media in museums and architectural exhibitions.

Current publication projects include a book for the Routledge series Thinkers for Architects on the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty published in July 2016. Other publications include a co-edited book (with Dr Laura Hanks and Suzanne Macleod of University of Leicester) entitled Museum Making: Narratives, Architectures, Exhibitions. (Routledge 2012); From Models to Drawings: Imagination and Representation in Architecture (Routledge 2007) co-edited with Marco Frascari (Carleton University, Canada) and Bradley Starkey; Rethinking Technology: A Reader in Architectural Theory, (Routledge 2007) co-edited with William W Braham (University of Pennsylvania). Funded research projects include: "Anywhere", "Future Garden" and "Moving City", a series of smart-phone guided walks and performance events - part of an ongoing collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab of the School of Computer Science (University of Nottingham) and the Austrian artist-choreographer Cie.Willi Dorner, also including the interdisciplinary 'Towards Pervasive Media' feasibility study funded by the EPSRC (£200k), involving an 18-month collaboration (2009-2011) with colleagues in Computer Science, Geography and History, alongside a number of artists-in-residence.

Past Research

Dr Hale was co-organiser of the 3-day interdisciplinary international conferences "The Future of Museum and Gallery Design" at the University of Hong Kong in November 2015, and "Narrative Space" co-hosted by the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester in April 2010; and chair and organiser of the 2nd Annual AHRA International Conference, 2005 at the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with Leverhulme Visiting Professor Marco Frascari. He was a Visiting Professor at the Azrieli School of Architecture, Carleton University, Canada (Jan-Feb 2013) and an invited speaker at international conferences at University of Toronto (March 2014) and University of Oulu, Finland (October 2014). He has chaired sessions at other international conferences including: "This Thing Called Theory, Leeds Becket University 2015; "Field/Work", University of Edinburgh 2009; "Agency", University of Sheffield 2008; "Primitive", Cardiff University 2005; "Philosophy and Architecture", Congress CATH, Bradford 2004; "The Beginning Design Student", Portland State University, Oregon USA, 2002; "Habitus 2000", Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, 2000. He was an invited speaker at "Discourses of the Visual", an international conference at the University of Westminster, 2001, and has been an invited lecturer at the University of Bath (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), University of Pennsylvania, University of Edinburgh and University of Sheffield, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Stockholm (2001 & 2009), and the University of Auckland, New Zealand (2000). In 2007 and 2013 he conducted lecture tours in China to promote the translation of Building Ideas published by China Architecture and Building Press (2015) including visits to: South East University, Nanjing; Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan; Shandong Jianzhu University in Jinan; South China University of Technology, Guangzhou; and City University Hong Kong. He has acted as an editorial referee for the journals ARQ, Journal of Architecture and Culture, Theory and Critique, and an editorial reviewer for: MIT Press, John Wiley, Architectural Press, and Routledge. He was a member of the competition jury for the "Nottingham Contemporary" 2004, won by Caruso St John, and a member of the awards panel for the RIBA President's Medals 2002, (Dissertations) and the RIBA President's Awards for Research 2010-2013; the East Midlands Design Review Panel (CABE/REM); and an External Examiner at The Bartlett, UCL; University of Sheffield; and the University of East London. He is also an occasional contributor of review articles to the journal Architecture Today.